LOVE Island stars including Francesca Allen and Belle Hassan are being named and shamed for breaking ad rules on Instagram.
Twins Jess and Eve Gale, Anna Vakili, as well as Jodie Marsh, are among the influencers found to repeatedly ignore warnings from the advertising watchdog about paid posts.
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Social media celebs who are paid by businesses to promote products on their pages are supposed to declare it with #ad in a prominent spot.
So now the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has decided to run their own ads on Instagram, exposing the six stars for not sorting it out.
And Amber Gill has been warned she could be next to face similar sanctions.
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Frustrated officials will consider asking tech giants to pull undeclared ad posts by repeat offenders down completely if their latest step doesn’t work.
In June, the regulator launched a site to keep track of influencers who fail to make ads clear.
Tyne-Lexy Clarson, Scott Timlin, Vicky Pattison and Nikki Ryan are currently on the watchlist with the others and will remain there for at least three months.
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The name and shame ads tactic will appear on Instagram feeds of users who are interested in Allen, Hassan, the Gale twins, Vakili and Marsh for now, until officials are satisfied they are being more upfront.
“[Name] has been sanctioned by the UK’s ad regulator for not declaring ads on this platform,” it reads.
“Be aware that products and services recommended or featured by this influencer may have been paid for by those brands.
“Our non-compliant social media influencer page at asa.org.uk is regularly updated to inform consumers of those who break these rules.”
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Shahriar Coupal, from the ASA, said: “For the minority of influencers that repeatedly fail to disclose their paid-for posts, it’s important their social media followers are told.
“In a new front of enforcement activity, we’re using targeted ads to highlight the breaches of six social media personalities to the very same audience they’re seeking to influence.
“When we see the necessary changes to their disclosure practices, we’ll call off the ads.
“But, where non-compliance persists, we’ll look to more direct forms of enforcement.”
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Love Island’s Francesca Allen reveals tiny waist after two stone weight loss as she poses in a bikini in Dubai
In other news, personalised smart guns, which can be fired only by verified users, may finally become available to U.S. consumers this year.
Tech giant Microsoft is trying to make the world more woke by rolling out an “inclusiveness” checker in its Word software.
And a federal anti-trust case against Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has been given the go-ahead.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
